


Blame Everyone But Me For This Mess

by hardtoconcentrate



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, One Shot, resident French-Canadian bros, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-03-31
Packaged: 2018-03-20 09:51:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3645849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hardtoconcentrate/pseuds/hardtoconcentrate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sid gets outed at school by the wrong person reading a text message. Resident douchebags Drew Doughty and Milan Lucic decide to confront him about it. Also, Sid spends too much time in a (literal) closet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. My Reputation's On The Line

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for an English narrative about intolerance. Later, I realized it was pretty much a fan fiction, so I decided to fix it up and post it here. I realize about 90% of it makes no sense, but oh well. Too late.
> 
> Chapter and work titles taken from I've Got A Dark Alley [etc] by Fall Out Boy.

The yelling on the other side of the door only furthers Sid’s anxiety as a deep, amused voice wavers in and out of audible range.

            “Hey, Lucic! Where d’you think that faggot went?” Drew Doughty, school bully, captain of the school’s hockey team, and the absolute bane of Sid’s existence.

            Sid has to crane his head towards the crack by the door hinges to hear the response.

            “Let’s be real,” Lucic (aka, resident hockey asshole) replies, “He’s probably hiding like a coward in a closet, or under a desk or something.” He laughs, an edge of cruelty in his voice. Apparently both of them are walking away, though, because their crude insults grow fainter to Sid’s ears.

            Sid lets his head fall back against the wall, cursing quietly when a mop handle smashed against his neck.

            _I can’t do this, oh lord,_ he thinks desperately.

            If Sid leaves the closet, they’ll probably kill him. Well, maybe not kill him, but there was no way he can get away without at least a broken bone. He can still hear their voices in the corridor; they’ll see him if he tries to escape.

            He shudders, running his hand over his face once, and pulls out his phone to check what time it is. _4:14_ , flash the white numbers on the lock screen of his phone. He considers that for a moment.

            _I’ve been in this closet for, like, two hours. Are they really going to wait until I leave? I can just stay in here all day…._

Suddenly, his phone buzzes, a notification coming up on his phone.

            “Geno<3<3: _iMessage”,_ it says.

            He swipes right and types in his password slowly, wincing when the bright white message screen comes up, a sharp contrast to the pitch-black of the janitor’s closet.

            “ _Geno <3<3: sid, want go out tonight?? new movie at cinema. let me know. xx” _

            Sid smiles mildly at his boyfriend’s broken English. Geno probably stared at his phone for five minutes, cursing it out in Russian, before sending the simple message. Taking a deep breath, he shakily types out a reply.

            “ _I think I might be stuck at school all evening. Come by here at 7 and pick me up, maybe?”_

 _If I’m still alive by then,_ he neglects to add. Geno doesn’t need to know. He’ll be able to figure this out.

           

_Okay. What are my options?_

The most obvious one, of course, is leaving the closet and making a break for the front door, but the more Sid thinks about that one, the less appealing it seems. The closet he’s in is far from the school entrance, and Doughty and Lucic are probably still close enough that they would easily spot him trying to get away. A junior mathlete trying to outrun two senior varsity athletes? It may have worked for the ten meters Sid had needed to turn the corner and lock himself in the closet, but there’s no way he can outrun them for the entire length of the hallway.

            _Besides,_ Sid thinks bitterly, _it’ll just hurt more if I’m running when they take me down._

           

           He violently curses leaving his phone out on the table during study hall, so easily accessible to the two jocks sitting at his table. Geno had texted him, asking something trivial about English grammar, but the boys had snatched up his phone quickly. As soon as they had seen Geno’s name followed by two hearts, Sid had felt his heart sink. He knew what was coming. Sure enough, Doughty and Lucic had leered and thrown him his phone back, saying, “So, you’re into boys, huh? We’ll find you after class today. See just how you fare with real men.” Unfortunately, Sid had both study hall and the last period of the day with the two, so as soon as the bell rang he had rushed away from the classroom, the boys right behind him. Thankfully, there had been an inconspicuous janitor’s closet at the turn of the hallway that he could cram himself into, but the boys had known he was still somewhere around. They wouldn’t let up.

           

Sid slips his phone back into his pocket and rubs his hands together, trembling slightly. Realistically, escaping and letting himself be caught by the jocks are his only two options, and with an escape pretty much out of the question, he begins to consider what Doughty and Lucic might actually do to him.

            _They’re strong. They could easily beat me up, knock me out, and throw me somewhere… Nobody would know,_ Sid realizes with alarm. Closing his eyes, he sinks down to the ground, back against the wall. His eyes begin to water, and he doesn’t know whether it’s the dust in the closet or the terror pulsing through every fiber of his body. Tears begin to slide down his face at a glacial pace, and he wraps his arms around his knees in an attempt to regain control of himself.

            He suddenly recalls a conversation he had with his mother when he came out to his parents before junior homecoming, Geno gripping his hand tightly the entire time beside him.

            “I’m not mad,” his mother had said, tears in her eyes, “But I am afraid. I need you to promise me you’ll look out for yourself. Both of you. Look out for each other. This is going to make people want to hurt you. You need to be careful.”

She’d kissed his forehead, and then wrapped her arms around him like she used to do when he was little. She had proceeded to do that to a startled Geno as well, before wiping her eyes and smiling a bit, saying, “I’m happy for you both. And you both look so handsome.”

 

A violent jolt of the doorknob by his ear jolts Sid out of his reverie, and he pales as Doughty’s voice, suddenly right by the door, rings out with a laugh,

“Damn it, just open the door and get it over with. We know you’re in here. You know it’s gonna happen, we know it’s gonna happen, we might as well just do this so we can go home.”

Sid steels himself, knowing Doughty is probably right, and tries to recall anything and everything his father’s ever taught him about fighting. The only thing he can think about is an offhand comment his father had made, telling him, “You’re pretty short for a guy, you can probably duck under anyone’s swings and catch someone in the gut before they even realize it.”

Sid pulled out his phone, alarmed at the fact that another two hours had passed without him realizing it, and quickly sent another message to Geno.

“ _Please come pick me up, I’m done at school,”_ he types cryptically, knowing that if he says anything was wrong, Geno will either the police, his mother, or drive to school at a speed so dangerous he’ll crash. He locks his phone again, puts it in his front pocket, and takes a deep breath. Geno’s and his mother’s faces clear in his mind and his heart, he slowly unclicks the lock and swings the door open.

 

The first thing he’s aware of as he adjusts to the light and steps out is the sheer height Doughty and Lucic have on him. Their grins widen as Sid steps out of the closet, and Doughty takes a step towards him.

“Going to try and kiss us like you do your faggot boyfriend?” Doughty taunts, grabbing Sid’s backpack right out of his hand and throwing it to the side, where it hits the floor and slides into a locker.

“No,” Sid replies quietly, “I’m going to fight you.”

Doughty laughs evilly and swings at Sid’s jaw, landing a clean hit that sends Sid sprawling against the wall, nursing a cut lip.

“I didn’t know little gay boys knew what fights were,” Doughty says, laughing again and watching Sid squirm on the ground. Lucic moves to grab him by the collar, but Sid quickly leans up and kicks him hard between the legs before struggling to his feet. Like a scene in a comedy, Lucic keels over, cupping his crotch and emitting whines.

Doughty spares a moment to roll his eyes and scoff at the fragility of his best friend before focusing a suddenly angry gaze back onto Sid. Sid’s blood runs cold, and he grabs his bag and tries to sprint away. Doughty catches him by the arm not three meters away, and slams him into the lockers.

“You’re a feisty one, huh?” he whispers, slapping Sid hard across the face. He struggles to push the taller boy away, but Doughty’s grip holds firm on his shoulder. He sees his chance as Doughty leans back to punch him again, and in the split second Doughty pulls his arm back, Sid hits him square in the side of the head. Doughty falls limply against the lockers before sliding down dazedly, the metal making a weak _squeak._

_Oh, god._

 

Sid’s eyes widen, quickly filling with tears, and as soon as he can ascertain that Doughty’s breathing and (relatively) okay, he runs as fast as he can away and towards the school entrance.  Slamming against the double doors to open them, he spots Geno’s car parked right in front, with its Russian occupant quickly getting out at the sight of Sid.

“What happened?” Geno almost yells, rushing up to Sid and enveloping him in his arms.

Sid can only let out a wracking sob and bury his head in Geno’s chest, mumbling weakly. Sid’s never even so much as laid hands on another person with malicious intent, much less nearly knocked someone out. He shivers and cries into Geno’s chest, afraid, relieved, and anxious all at the same time. One of Geno’s arms tightens protectively around Sid’s back as he cries while the other comes up to card through Sid’s hair soothingly, softly.

            It’s exactly what Sid needs. After taking a few more gasping breaths, Sid manages to calm down enough for Geno to tug his hand gently and walk him back to the car. Geno opens the door for Sid before going over to his own side of the car. Once Geno is in the driver’s seat, he turns the light on and looks at Sid cautiously before taking his hand in his own on top of the gearshift.

“What happened?” Geno asks worriedly, reaching over with his left hand and running it ever so gently along the split in Sid’s lip.

Sid hisses slightly at the sting before closing his eyes and letting his head fall back against the headrest dejectedly.

“Doughty and Lucic found out about… me. About us. They went looking for me after school.”

“They hurt you? I’m kill them,” Geno says fiercely, nearly snarling at the realization of what happened.

“I nearly did that myself,” Sid jokes in a small voice, and his chest tightens. “I knocked them down and ran. I think I might have seriously hurt Doughty. He watched me go, but… He didn’t even move. Oh, god.”

Geno’s hand tightens around Sid’s and he twists to plant a tender kiss to Sid’s lips.

“Good. Nobody hurt you again. Ever. Or I’m hurt them,” Geno says quietly, before sitting back upright in his seat and starting the car, his hand never letting go of Sid’s.

 


	2. I'm Hopelessly Hopeful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing goes the way Sid thought it would the next day. It's kind of nice.

The next day when Sid walks back into school, he expects some sort of backlash. He expects either Doughty or Lucic to corner him in the hallways if they’re in school. He expects everyone to avoid him, move away from him. He doesn’t expect anyone to talk to him but Geno. He expects to sit alone at lunch as usual because Geno has English at that time.   


Precisely none of those things happen.

 

Sid gets looks of surprise, impress, skepticism and admiration when he walks down the hallway. The whispers he hears in the hallways clarify a lot, and he hears enough of the story from different people to be able to piece it together.

           

            Once Lucic regained his senses from the kick and hitting the ground, he had found Doughty somewhat conscious and blinking at the locker. When he had taken him to the hospital in fear though, he had had to tell the doctors what had happened. Lucic’s parents somehow found out what had actually happened and reported it - apparently, even his own parents hated him. Doughty had gotten suspended for a month (although it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, because Sid had evidently given him a very mild concussion), and Lucic had gotten two weeks for being truthful.

 

            As soon as Sid sits down at his usual lonely lunch table, two tall seniors sit on either side of him. Sid recognizes them both from the varsity hockey team and recoils slightly, but the one with the budding soul patch just says, “We heard what happened with Doughty. He can be real asshole. We got your back.” in a heavy French accent.

            “ _Tabarnac_ , but that’s impressive. Lil pipsqueak like you toppling that beast? Must have been a sight to see,” the boy with long hair says in a just-as-intense accent.

He introduces himself as Kris (“ _Tanger_ , if you call me Kris or Kristopher I will check you into this table.”) and Soul Patch Boy as Flower (“Kristophe, _je te jure_ , stop introducing me as that-“ “Your name is Flower and nothing you can do will change that, _Marc-André._ ”).

            Sid takes out his phone and takes a quick Snapchat video of the two French (Canadians, as he comes to find out) boys bickering, sending it to Geno with a “?”. He immediately gets a snap back of Geno in English, both amused and confused, sitting next to someone Sid also recognizes from the team. Sid thinks his name is Beau, maybe? The boy’s grinning wildly in the picture, hand up in a greeting, while Geno just quirks an eyebrow and side-eyes him.

Sid ends up spending most of his lunch just eating quietly while Tanger and Flower snipe at each other from either side of him and glare daggers at anyone they deem sketchy approaching their table until they leave, but it’s kind of nice. Sid’s never had this kind of companionship from anyone except Geno until now.

                       

            Most of the day after lunch progresses the same way, with Tanger and/or Flower greeting Sid between classes when they see each other in the hallways, where the whispering never ceases. Once the final bell rings, Sid lets out a sigh of relief and leaves English quickly, making his way to the front entrance of the school, where he knows Geno will be waiting for him outside.

            Sure enough, Geno is sitting on a bench under the shade of a tree, fiddling with his phone. Normally, they would be as casual as possible walking back to Geno’s car in order to avoid suspicion, but neither of them has any reason to hide anymore.

            Sid walks up to Geno and sits right by him, leaning boldly into his side. Geno looks up into his eyes and flashes him a brilliant, if slightly hesitant, smile. Sid looks down with a soft smile back, and silently takes Geno’s hand into his own in his lap. Geno plants a kiss into Sid’s hair contentedly before getting to his feet and pulling Sid towards the car, their fingers interlocked the entire way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did say this epilogue would be short. I hope you enjoyed this, guys! Come find me at arcadia-fades.tumblr.com to give me prompts and stuff or just to talk.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic in the fandom, so any concrit/reviews would be greatly appreciated! Comments/kudos are pretty much the greatest thing to see on your works if you're a writer.


End file.
